Most of our
teachers left, and I and a friend or two had to teach the school
ourselves. My friends established a day-school, and hired a teacher; but
he turned out to be an unbounded license man; he brought with him, in
fact, an unmarried woman instead of his wife, and they found it
necessary to get rid of him as soon as they could.
All the time I was at Burnley my heart first, and then my head, were
coming nearer and nearer to Christ and Christianity. I gradually gave up
my opposition both to religion and to the churches. The last lecture in
which I gave utterance to anything unfavorable to the Bible was one on
Noah's flood. I spoke on the subject by request, and against my
inclination, and before I had got half through I began to feel
unutterably dissatisfied with myself. I was really unhappy. From that
time forward I dwelt chiefly on moral subjects, and often took occasion
to speak favorably of the Bible and Christianity. I tried to explain
what was dark, and to set forth what was manifestly true and good in
their teachings.
I lectured on the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs, on the beauty of
Christ's character, and on the excellency of many of His doctrines, on
the advantages of faith in Christ, and on the follies and vices of
infidel secularism, and on quite a number of other Christian subjects.
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